After All
by Sentiel Malfoy
Summary: When Roxas loses his parents, he moves in with his brother in Twilight Town. He quickly makes friends with flamboyant Sora and laid-back Riku but when he meets the hot-headed Axel his world is slowly but surely turned upside down!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Roxas was roused from his nap by a knock at the door. Groaning, he sat up in the sofa and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "_Mum and Dad aren't back yet… I shouldn't open the door," _he thought, but when he caught a glimpse of the flashing lights he quickly jumped up and opened it to find two police officers standing on the doorstep. The little blond couldn't help but panic, his mind immediately throwing thoughts and ideas around trying to guess the reason they were here. _Shit, shit, shit, what have I done? It can't be that thing with Naminé, can it? That wasn't that bad. _Roxas was near tears when the taller office asked politely, "Could we step inside sir?"

Roxas just nodded dumbly and moved aside to let them pass. He managed to shut the door and motioned to the sofa. "Err, take a seat." The officers sat and Roxas settled in the armchair opposite.

"Hello, Roxas is it?" The same office that spoke before started, the boy just nodded. _How on earth do they know my name? _"My name is Officer Phipps and this is Officer Powell. I'm sorry, Roxas, but there was a serious road crash earlier this evening at 6:08pm involving who we believe to be your parents." Roxas froze. He couldn't take what the Phipps guy had said. _My parents, what? Are they okay? What the hell happened! _

"What! What happened? Where are my parents?" Roxas panicked again and tried desperately not to hyperventilate. Office Powell tried to calm the boy down but Roxas couldn't stop himself.

"I am very sorry, but their car ran into a ditch. There were no survivors." The officers obviously had no experience of dealing with 15-year-old boys that had just lost their parents, as when Roxas broke down crying all they did was sit there and mumble awkward words of comfort.

Roxas curled into himself in the small chair and couldn't hold back the waves upon waves of tears that spilled from his eyes. _No, no, NO! This cannot be happening. What's going to happen to me? Where will I go? What the hell am I going to do without them? Mum and Dad... _

"I'm very sorry," Officer Phipps repeated, but Roxas couldn't hear him over the sound of his own sobs. _What's going to happen to me..._

Two weeks later, after his parents' funeral, Roxas found himself on the train to Twilight town where his estranged brother Cloud lived. Cloud was 16 years older than Roxas and had left home not long before he was born to move away from his family after a huge argument that split them apart. Roxas knew that he had a brother however, and had heard from his parents many times that if anything were to happen to them then Cloud would be the one to take him.

Roxas had never met this elder brother and had little idea of what he looked like for the sort of guy he was. Of course Cloud had been informed that Roxas was coming to live with him and that his parents had passed away, but Cloud had failed to come to the funeral. Clearly, he still wasn't over the feud he had with his parents, with the added fact that he would be receiving a 15-year-old boy. He probably wasn't in the best of moods.

Leaving the island was difficult for Roxas; he had so many people that were difficult to say goodbye to. Naminé was in bits when he told her, as was Kairi. Pence, Ollette and Hayner had tried to not cry but failed. Roxas hadn't held back the tears and clung to his friends for all they were worth as it was so sad to see them go.

Now Roxas was alone on a train, quickly approaching Twilight Station with mad thoughts circling his mind and fears pushing through his confidence of the situation. Naturally, he was nervous about meeting Cloud for the first time and fitting in at his new school and the area generally.

The train came to a halt at the station. Roxas grabbed his bags and headed out onto the platform to begin his hopefully short search for Cloud. It was a short search as a tall man with spiky blond hair approached him almost as soon as he stepped off the train.

"You're Roxas, right?" He asked in a bored voice.

"Yeah, I'm guessing you're Cloud," Roxas replied quietly, studying the ground.

"Come with me," Cloud turned to leave. "Oh, and no need to be afraid of me, I don't bite." Cloud let a small smile pass his lips at Roxas' surprise. The taller blond wasn't best pleased with getting stuck with a kid, but he knew what Roxas was going through with the whole losing the parents thing. Only for Cloud, it felt like the second time.

The car ride from the station to Cloud's apartment was quiet and awkward as neither wanted to talk. Cloud did try a couple of times but Roxas wasn't in the mood. So, all Cloud got in response was a nod or grunt. _I cannot believe I am stuck with my baby brother. I had so many plans for Aerith. Dammit! Though I guess he is family and I should take care of him now his parents are dead. Well, my parents too, but we haven't spoken in so long. I'm surprised they wanted Roxas to come to me in the first place. The kid looks so sad, bless him. I hope he fits in here. He should, he's cute. The girls will be all over him. Haha, he should be fine. _

When they arrived back at the apartment, Cloud took Roxas' bags inside as the smaller blond followed.

"So, Roxas, this is your room," Cloud said as he entered the small room and set Roxas' bags down. He sighed. "Well that's the tour, and you can stick your stuff away. Dinner shall be ready in a couple of hours. I'll call you through." Cloud left Roxas alone to go make dinner. As soon as the taller blond left the room Roxas collapsed on the bed, crying for all he was worth.

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**So I have reposted this because I missed it basically. I know it's not that good but I enjoyed writing it, school just got in the way. I'll be posting a chapter every time I write the next one, they will be beta read when my beta gets around to it so sorry for typos. J Enjoy~!**


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas didn't emerge later when Cloud called that dinner was ready. The older blond had poked his head in the door and found the small blond curled up in bed. He could see a damp patch next to him and could tell he had fallen asleep crying. Cloud just sighed and left him, poor kid.

When Roxas woke, he was utterly confused. He didn't have a clue where he was or what he was doing in this strange room. He briefly searched his mind, and, as realisation dawned on him, the blond felt his eyes well up with tears again. He pushed them back.

Cautiously getting off the rather lumpy bed, he scanned the room and found his bags on the floor, still fully packed. He studied the furniture: the small wardrobe, the single bed against the wall and the small bedside table which was sporting a lamp. It was simple, but he would live.

Roxas cracked the door open and saw Cloud pacing in the living room. He seemed to be talking to someone on his mobile.

"Look, Rufus, I'm sure you can find a substitute for a couple of days-" He paused; the person on the other line had obviously started speaking.

"Yeah, the kid's been through a lot... Monday... maybe... well, I want to give him time. Yeah, I know... I know... thanks for that, sir... bye." With that, Cloud hung up and sighed. He turned and saw Roxas peeking through the door.

"Oh, hey Rox, come on out, I need to talk." Cloud beckoned him over; Roxas nervously came out of his dimly lit room and wandered over to where Cloud was standing in the living room. The elder blond motioned for him to sit down and Roxas sat. Cloud settled next to him, trying his best to smile warmly as possible.

"Err, what time is it?" Roxas asked, refusing to look away from his hands.

"Around nine-ish, I think. You fell asleep. Now, about this whole situation, I'm sorry about the room being a little bleak. We can get that sorted later," Cloud started.

"It's okay," Roxas interrupted.

"Good. Well, I know that you don't really know me very well, but that's okay. We can work on that as well. For the record I am Cloud, which you already knew, and I work at the Twilight Academy as an IT teacher. I live here alone and I have a girlfriend called Aerith. Any questions?" When Roxas shook his head, Cloud continued. "Onto the subject of school. You shall be attending The Twilight Academy, where I teach. It's a good school and you'll fit in great I'm sure. I sent for a uniform for you and that should arrive in a couple of days. I expect you'll be taking the same courses that you did at your old school. What were they?" Roxas moved his eyes from the floor and glanced up to see Cloud with a warm but serious look on his face. He quickly glanced back down.

"Erm… IT, History and Product Design, oh, and Separate Sciences," The little blond tried not to mumble as he spoke, but his nerves, mixed with his fears, made that a difficult task.

"Brilliant, seeing as I teach IT you should be fine in that class." Roxas nodded. Suddenly, his stomach grumbled loudly. He blushed and folded his arms over his torso, as if by doing this he would be able to prevent it happening again. Cloud just chuckled. "You can get something to eat in a minute. I told the headmaster of the school, Mr Shinra, that you would be attending by next Monday, but you don't have to - if you don't want to, I know-"

"No, it's fine, Monday, sure." Roxas took a deep breath; _this is going to be so hard. _

"Oh, okay, food then?"

The rest of the week passed quickly for Roxas. He had gotten to know Cloud a lot better and had become more comfortable in his new home. Cloud seemed happy enough to have him around. He had shown Roxas around town and taken his little brother to all his favourite places and stores along the way, also buying him some new clothes as Twilight Town actually had seasons as opposed to the Islands that just had constant sun. All Roxas had was board shorts and oversized T-shirts.

Roxas met Aerith on Friday; she was nice and kind to him. Roxas was surprised to find out that Aerith taught languages in Twilight Academy, which was a shame because Roxas didn't take it. He had left the two love birds alone for the rest of the day and retreated to his room.

Saturday was spent buying Roxas' books and frantically trying on the new school uniform as soon as it arrived. Luckily, it fit perfectly; the uniform was simple but smart, consisting of a black blazer with a white shirt and red and blue striped tie. A black or grey vest was optional, but Roxas chose to wear it anyway. A pair of black trousers, socks and smart black shoes completed his schooling attire.

Cloud said something about neatening up the mess of spikes that was his hair before he left for school, but Roxas replied simply: "I will when you do," which made Cloud sigh and shake his head.

On Sunday night Roxas retreated to his room after dinner after telling Cloud he was crashing in early so he could wake for school on time. However, he just wanted to think things through. Only three weeks ago he lost his parents, and, although he acted like everything was alright inside, he ached. Yes, he had Cloud, but he was still an orphan. Moving to this strange place meant leaving his friends behind along with everyone else he cared about. It seemed like everyone that was there, right there, to help him with the loss had gone. Just disappeared and now he was stuck here with Cloud, sure he was a great but he hardly knew the guy.

_Oh god, oh god. This just gets worse and worse. I cannot believe I'm stuck here. I miss Mum and Dad so, so, so much. I just wish they were here, but no. I'm starting a new school tomorrow and I'm scared to death about that. I just wish I could go to sleep and never wake up..._

Normally on a school day Roxas' alarm would wake him up, but not today. Cloud flung the door open and proceeded to open the curtains nice and wide to let in all the wonderful morning light. Sadly, the light wasn't so pleasant when you just woke up.

Roxas groaned loudly ,threw the quilt over his face and cried out as Cloud quickly whipped it off him again, exposing him to the cold morning air.

"Come on, Roxy, time for work and school," Cloud grinned as the blond sat up and glared at him.

"You mean I have to go with you?"

"Yup, so get ready, we leave in…" He glanced at his watch. "twenty minutes." He then laughed when Roxas scrambled to grab his uniform and run to the bathroom.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?" Roxas yelled from his shower.

"I don't know, I had things to do. Hurry up."

Roxas managed to get everything together in time for school. Cloud drove and Roxas sat nervously in the passenger seat trying not to hyperventilate. Once at the school, Cloud proceeded to lug Roxas around the school. He called it a tour, but Roxas called it torture as it was a big school and he was still half asleep.

Once the tour/torture was complete, Cloud took Roxas to get his time table after he met up with Aerith and left Roxas to fend for himself.

It was daunting to be left alone in such a big place. He had to admit it, he was petrified. Glancing at the time table, he saw he had form with a teacher called Miss Paine, charming, in class A1. Glancing at his, watch Roxas saw that it was only ten minutes until form so he might as well head there now to find where it was. He was sure that A1 was an art room, however he couldn't quite remember how to get there and the constant onslaught of students pushing past him deterred him from asking.

Finally he found A1. It was an art room on the second floor next to the science corridor. He was only a couple of minutes late and noticed that most of the other students were already lined up outside of the door. Some stood, some leaned against the walls with phones out, while others settled on the floor, seemingly content to look up at everyone. Roxas wearily joined the back of the line.

Stood in front of him was a tall silver haired boy and a short brunette boy. The brunette seemed to be explaining to the silver haired one something about pancakes but he didn't look to be paying attention.

"Yes, Sora, I get it, you only got three pancakes this morning, now please turn around."

"But Riku!" Sora whined. Riku had caught Roxas' eye. Roxas tried to look away, only to find Sora spinning round to see what Riku was staring at. His eyes immediately widened and grinned so widely that Roxas was surprised his face didn't split or something. "Oh my God, you're new, aren't you!"

Roxas nodded.

"Well, I'm Sora and this is Riku and we weren't told about getting a new student at all, were we, Riku?" Sora gushed all at once. Riku just smirked down at his little friend.

"Calm down, Brownie, let the kid breath." Riku ruffled Sora's mop of spikes, making the brunette giggle and push him away. _Are those two... no, just really good friends, I think._

"Err, hi, I'm Roxas," Roxas introduced himself just as a young woman strutted down the corridor and shoved open the art room door. She had blond/brown hair, which was spiked and styled clearly how she liked it. She wore a paint splattered tight black top that hung low on her chest, not revealing anything, and paint splattered black pants. She wore black leather boots under all of this.

"Get it," she called. The class ushered in but Roxas stood nervously at the front as he handed the note he'd been given to her.

"Oh right, Roxas, sit over there, next to the short one that won't stop grinning," She gave him a quick smile as he scuttled off to take his place next to Sora.

At some point during form time, Miss Paine wandered over to where Roxas was sat. She sat on the side desk, casually swinging her legs.

"Sora, you and Roxas seem to be getting on well." Sora nodded furiously. "Can I have a quick look at both your timetables?" They handed them over and Miss Paine studied them for a second then threw them back. "Yup, that'll do, can you show Roxas around please? Your timetables are pretty similar." With that she wandered back around the class to yell at a couple of idiots flicking paint about.

"What do you have first, Roxas?" Sora asked enthusiastically as they exited form.

"Maths with Miss Lockhart," Roxas replied. Seeing Sora's eyes light up, he guessed that the boy had that too.

"Awesome! Come on, Riku!" Riku was trailing behind the two, shaking his head at Sora as he walked.

Maths was made into a bit of a show by the fact that Roxas was introduced to the class by Miss Lockhart. He took his seat next to Sora and Riku and let the lesson progress without any more issues. However, second lesson was a bit of a hassle as neither Sora nor Riku took product design, leaving Roxas to fend for himself once more. Sora told him to find them at break and skipped off with Riku at his side.

When he arrived at PD he was mildly shocked to find the classroom in complete and utter chaos. He guessed the teacher was the guy frantically trying to stop two boys fighting without much success. He noticed a group of girls sat at the back of the class, a group of nerds at the front, and everyone else was scattered. Roxas sat down at a workbench that didn't seem to have anyone's bags around it.

The table was occupied though by a tall boy with a dark blond mullet/mohawk and a grin to match Sora's. The other was an equally tall boy but this one had bright red spiky hair and the strangest tattoos under his eyes. His eyes were the most stunning green. He smirked when he saw Roxas gazing at him.

"Hey, kid, you do know that this is a year eleven class, right? Not for year nines that lose their way." The redhead spoke to him like he was an idiot and it pissed the blond off.

"I am a year eleven, thank you, I just happen to be new," Roxas half growled.

"Ooooo, a new student. Whoo! Haven't had one of them in ages - hi, I'm Demyx, nice to meet ya." The mulleted one held out his hand for Roxas, who took it, smiling. New friends were always welcome.

"Hey, I'm Roxas."

"Yeah, I'm Axel by the way. Sorry for the mistake, kid, you just look kinda young, ya know?" Axel ran a long fingered hand through his messy hair.

"It's okay, nice to meet you, Axel," Roxas sighed. The name felt almost pleasant on his tongue. He took a look around the class room to see that the chaos had yet to subside. "Is it normally like this?"

Axel answered him. "Yup, pretty much, I mean Tuesti is a great guy but he can't teach for shit." Axel chuckled when he saw Roxas' astounded face.

"But don't you ever learn? I mean, there has to be some order to things…" So innocent.

"Sometimes it's quiet, but it's more fun this way." He smirked.

"So, Roxy, where did you move here from?" Demyx asked, wanting to move the subject away from school.

"Destiny Islands," He replied.

"Wow, I heard it's, like, really pretty there with all the beaches and stuff..." Demyx continued to gargle on about all sorts of things and, before he knew it, the lesson was over and he knew that he would have to go find Riku and Sora.

"It was great meeting ya kid, see ya," Axel said, exiting the class room and heading down the corridor with Demyx racing after him.

Riku and Sora were located in the canteen, talking together about things. Roxas sighed as he walked to his next lesson alongside the over-excited brunette and quiet Riku. _Things are going well. I guess these guys are almost my friends. I can just hope. _

"So right, Riku, I swear it was huuuuuuuuuuge," Sora swung his arms open to emphasize his point, almost whacking Roxas in the face in the process as they walked out of the school gates. "And it was so scary coz Mum didn't want to go near it and Dad wasn't home."

"Shut up, Brownie, no one wants hear your little spider stories." Riku patted him on the head and Sora pouted, just for the moment though.

"Oh right, Roxas, me and Riku are having a movie night at mine on Saturday and we were wondering if you wanted to join us?" Roxas froze - a movie night with two people he barely knew? But, as much as he wanted to turn them down, he found himself agreeing.

"Brilliant, we'll see you tomorrow!" And with that, they were gone.

When Roxas got back to the apartment he was so tired he just collapsed on his bed and drifted off to sleep, only to be reawakened, of course, by Cloud ten minutes later to quiz him on school.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I've been forgetting this for the last couple of chapters but I'm doing it now to make up. I do not own Kingdom Hearts, I know you were so thinking I did but no I don't -_-**

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Tuesday was the same as woke Sora and drove him to school, except this time he met up with Riku and 'Brownie' before form. Sora had been over the moon that Roxas remembered them, but someone like Sora was hard to forget.

"Right, this weekend when you two come over we'll do what me and Riku normally do, which is watch scary movies and scream and stuff-" Sora's rant was cut off by an un-amused Riku.

"You mean that you'll be screaming, and I'll be sat there forced to deal with you grabbing onto me every time someone in the movie opens a door?" Riku said dryly.

"U-huh. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, so ,we'll do all that stuff and we'll get loads of food and..." Roxas pretty much blanked the little brunette out as he continued to go on and on about what he was planning to do later. Riku noticed that Roxas was no longer listening.

He leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry, he's like this with everyone pretty much. It just means he likes you." Riku pulled away and switched sides so he was next to Sora instead of Roxas. He bent down a little bit and wrapped his arms about Sora's waist. He shrieked as he was lifted off the floor by Riku's strong arms.

Roxas couldn't help but laugh at the sight as Riku threw Sora over his shoulder and proceeded to carry him the rest of the way. "Let me down Riku, people are staring!" Sora repeatedly hit Riku's back but not hard enough to hurt - just hard enough to make Riku chuckle.

"No can do, Brownie."

"But Riku," Sora whined loudly.

"But Sora," Riku mimicked, making Sora pout and Roxas laugh louder.

Rounding the corner, Roxas was laughing so hard he could barely see straight, causing him to walk right into someone very tall and very hard. He fell backwards, straight onto his butt. Riku let Sora down from his shoulder and Sora immediately started screeching at the person Roxas had ran into.

Roxas shook his head and looked up to see Axel holding his leather clad hand out to him. Roxas took it and blushed lightly as the redhead helped him up. "Sorry," the blond boy murmured, refusing to meet Axel's gaze.

"It was my fault, I should've looked where I was going. Sorry, Rox." Axel smirked and winked. He grabbed Demyx's arm and dragged him down the corridor. Roxas didn't notice the glare Riku was giving him as he walked away.

"What was that about?" Sora asked as soon as Axel and Demyx were out of sight.

"I dunno."

Form was the same as the day before. Miss Paine yelled at a few people, took the register and sat on her desk. After form, Roxas and Riku headed off for double science while Sora had music. During the two hours of listening to Mr Vexen drone on about plants and what not, Riku had got bored and started talking to Roxas about Axel, strangely enough.

"What do you think about him?" Riku asked quietly so as not to alert the teacher.

"He seems nice. I mean we didn't talk much, but he doesn't seem that bad." Roxas saw Riku's eyes darken considerably.

"Well, he's not nice, I'll tell you that now. He's not a good person, Roxas, and you should stay away from him. He's a delinquent." Riku practically growled, making Roxas feel a little uncomfortable.

"What did he do?" Axel didn't seem like the type to do anything that was really against the law or anything serious.

"Where can I start he-" Vexen had caught onto the conversation and hissed a sharp 'shh' before turning back to the board. "I'll tell you at break." They sat for the rest of the class in an uncomfortable silence. Roxas couldn't wait to find out what was going on, but at the same time he was nervous and worried about what he would hear about Axel. Part of him couldn't get his head around the possible fact that Axel was indeed a delinquent, however the other part saw something in him that looked like a bit of a trouble maker.

As soon as Vexen dismissed class, Roxas and Riku shot out of the room and went in search of Sora. They found him talking to some girl called Yuffie. They quickly whisked him away from her, despite Yuffie's yelling.

"Wha- Guys, I was kinda having a conversation!" Sora said, crossing his arms and pouting as Riku took him into the DT corridor so they could talk.

"I could see that, but you've hardly ever spoken to Yuffie in your life. Look, Roxas wants to know about Axel and I thought it would be better if you were here," Riku explained.

"What? Because you're bad with people," Sora said earning a glare from the silver haired boy. "Okay, okay, go ahead."

"Err, so what has he done exactly?" Roxas questioned, a little annoyed with their bickering.

Riku took a deep breath before he began. "Well, when we first started at this school it was pretty relaxed and free. We didn't have ties and we didn't have to wear our uniforms so perfectly. No one yelled at you for chewing gum, that sort of thing. Axel was the exact type of person that wouldn't follow any of these rules if they were enforced.

"He looked like such a mess all the time. It was clear from the off that his family were quite poor or something. He was also very violent. Anyone who wanted a fight would look for Axel. He was so easy to wind up as well, which it made it so much easier for all those bullies and things."

"That wasn't his fault, though, was it?" Roxas interrupted.

"Well, not really. A couple of years passed, and when we were in Year 9 the school got really strict all of a sudden. The name changed from Twilight school to Twilight Academy. No one really liked the new arrangement, especially Axel. The fights became less and less frequent because anyone that was caught fighting was suspended, even sent to counselling. However Axel still got into fights. He became so dangerous."

"What about Demyx, was he around then? He seems really nice."

"He was with Axel the _entire_ time. They must have been friends since they were young to have that sort of loyalty. Every time anything happened to Axel, Demyx was with him. Anyway, with Axel getting into more and more trouble, the school didn't know what to do with him. Suspensions didn't have any effect as his family didn't give a damn; counselling just resulted with him storming out of the room each time.

"They were near kicking him out, but for some reason they didn't. In Year 10 he was rumoured to have set a car on fire or something. I never believed it and I still don't think Axel did it, but pretty much everyone else did. It sent Axel round the bend having so many people talking about him in such a bad manner. People whispered when he walked down the corridor, sending him dirty looks and stuff like that.

"And one day he snapped," Riku clicked his fingers to illustrate his point. "Just like that. This boy came up to him, I can't remember his name, and said something to Axel along the lines of 'You'll turn out just like your mother, a filthy whore'. Axel went for him. Nearly killed him. I was there. Demyx was screaming and desperately trying to pull Axel away. He was petrified. A good number of teachers managed to get through to crowd and drag Axel off.

"It's a wonder he didn't get expelled, in fact we still don't know why he didn't. Now he's calmed down a little bit he is better to be around, but I wouldn't get to know him."

"Why not? If he isn't really like… y'know…" Roxas couldn't quite find the right word. Riku sighed.

"Because he is still dangerous, Roxas. Who knows when he'll snap again. We don't want you to get hurt, okay?" Roxas nodded slowly and checked his watch. Seeing that it was time for third period, he informed Sora and Riku. All three had history with Mr Xemnas.

Mr Xemnas was probably the strictest teacher in the school. He got very annoyed when pupils didn't pay attention, which was a problem for Roxas as his mind couldn't seem to drift from Axel and what Riku had said about him. By the sounds of it, Demyx was all Axel had right now and he couldn't help but feel bad for him.

Mr Xemnas cleared his throat loudly, dragging Roxas away from his thoughts. He turned to see the white haired teacher glaring at him, so he turned to the board and pretended to study intently. Satisfied, Xemnas continued with his teaching.

History ended and lunch began. They managed to find a table in the crowded canteen and sat down to their lunches. Roxas had made his own lunch as Cloud had little idea what Roxas would like, which was fair enough.

It was weird how the trio got on so well, considering they had only known each other for two days. Roxas was surprised that neither would get mad or annoyed that he seemed to be almost invading their friendship duo, but neither of them seemed to be that bothered. In fact, they seemed glad to have met him.

_I don't have product design again until Thursday, and I have no idea if I have any other lessons with him. I get what Riku's saying, but I just don't want to stay away from him. If Demyx is all he has then he must want other friends and isn't that bad._

"Uh, Rox? You blanked out again." Sora looked almost worried.

"Oh, just thinking. What were you saying?"

"Err, well, I was just looking at the homework Mr Xemnas set us and I don't get it, so I was wondering if you wanted to come to Riku's with me to help or something?" Sora looked so unbelievably hopeful, eyes wide and hands clasped together, trying not to bounce up and down on his seat.

"Sure, I need a bit of help, too," he lied – he actually got history through and through but he couldn't turn Sora down.

"Brilliant! What do you have next?" Sora asked, scanning his brain to see if he could remember his own time-table. Riku lightly smacked Sora upside the head.

"Same as you, doofus, we have math." Riku shook his head at Sora who was holding his head in mock pain. Standing, Roxas smiled at the pair. They were good together and you could so clearly see that their friendship was practically unbreakable.

After school, Riku caught up with Roxas and Sora as he had German and the other two had IT with none other than Cloud. Roxas had discretely asked Cloud after class if he could go over to Riku's and Cloud had said yes. Thankfully, Riku was quite a well-behaved, intelligent student so Cloud saw no reason for Roxas not to go round.

"Err, where do you live, Riku? My brother said he would pick me up after." Roxas asked, fiddling with phone so he could text Cloud.

"34 Princess Street," Riku informed him. Roxas quickly text Cloud before stuffing his phone back in his pocket.

"Thanks."

"You have a brother? What's his name?" Sora questioned, bouncing along beside his silver haired friend. Roxas debated with himself for a few moments on whether to tell them who his brother really was or just to leave it out and change the subject. He went with the first option.

"Cloud Strife, he teaches IT." Sora's eyes widened and Roxas was sure that, if he kept doing it, one day they would fall out of his head.

"_Your _brother teaches IT in school," Sora squealed and Riku rolled his eyes.

"Yeah."

"But wait a minute. Mr Strife is like thirty and you're really young. How does that work?" A very confused look passed over Sora's face.

"It just means they were born far apart, Brownie. Stop asking stupid questions." Riku ruffled Sora's mess of brown spikes.

"Why do you call Sora 'Brownie', Riku?" Roxas asked, intrigued.

"He has brown hair, I guess that's it. It just sorta suits him." Riku answered.

"I guess it does." Roxas agreed.

The rest of the journey was made with questions and stories and things like that. It was good to get to know new people. When they arrived at Riku's house, Riku flung the front door open and yelled something to his mum about being home and having friends with him. She called back 'Okay, don't be too loud' and they headed up stairs to Riku's room.

The history homework was looked at for about half an hour before people got bored and games started being played. Sora begged to play truth or dare, but Riku refused. Roxas just sat back and watched the two best friends bicker over what they were going to do. In the end, they settled on video games. Riku and Sora played while Roxas watched intently.

After only a few minutes, though, Sora got bored again and Roxas received a text from Cloud telling him that he would be picking him up him ten minutes.

"Sorry, guys, I gotta go, that was Cloud." Roxas jumped off the bed and waved goodbye to the silver head and the brunette.

"Bye bye, Roxas!" Sora called, and Roxas just caught the bye from Riku.

Cloud's car was pulled up outside Riku's house by the time Roxas had thanked Riku's mother for letting him come over. Cloud had no end of questions for him about what he had got up to at Riku's. He was taking on the whole father role well, considering he had no children on his own.

Roxas asked Cloud about going over to Sora's on Saturday and Cloud also agreed to that. He said that bonding with new friends was crucial to the survival of the relationship, but the younger was certain he had read that in a book or heard it on TV or something.

That night, Roxas slept well.

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**I shall be starting chapter eight soon just so you know. **

**Thank you to duckie lover 151 for the reviews and to everyone else who has faved or followed, it means a lot :3**


	4. Chapter 4

Wednesday passed quickly, the only issue being in PE when Mr Xigbar had a fit at Sora because he had no idea what was happening. Sora hated being yelled at and almost started crying which made Riku mad. Hence forth, the rest of the day was spent bitching about Mr Xigbar. Roxas nearly started laughing about it at one point but Riku gave him the glare and he quickly stopped. Double science was just as tense as the day before only this time Vexen very nearly set the lab on fire. That wasn't as fun as it sounds.

After school they went their separate ways. Cloud took Roxas out so they could talk and get to know each other better. He found out plenty about Roxas and had promised to sort his room out so it wasn't so plain. Roxas also found out a lot about Cloud. Now he was getting to know him, he was a little sad that Cloud hadn't been around while he was growing up as he was a great guy.

As Thursday came around, Roxas found himself getting a little nervous about the upcoming product design lesson in which he would have to talk to Axel at some point. He didn't want to start anything during lesson time so he was hoping that he could get to what Riku had said at lunch or something.

Form, first and second lesson passed rather quickly. Mounting nerves stopped Roxas from concentrating in class which wasn't giving a very good first impression with the teachers. He couldn't care less. Having a drama filled life was fine with him, but he had just hoped that he left that behind with the islands. The last thing Roxas needed right now was drama, but it was coming his way.

Roxas took a deep breath before pushing open the door to PD. He saw the same scene as he had done on Monday. Girls at the back, nerds at the front, and mayhem everywhere else. Apparently, two boys had glued themselves together with the hot glue guns and were being escorted to medical by Mr Tuesti, leaving the rest of the class to do what they pleased. Roxas found Axel and Demyx in the same place as last time. He assumed that was their usual table, and headed over to them.

"Heya, Roxas," Demyx greeted him with a huge smile. Axel just grunted his hello.

"Hi guys, what's up?" Roxas greeted back, taking his place on the opposite side of the bench. He could see Axel wasn't right. His hair looked like it hadn't been touched all day, his head was down and he seemed to be playing with something under the table.

"Nothing much. Axel's girlfriend dumped him last night, he's a big hung up about it," Demyx leant across the table to whisper to me. Axel must have heard though because, as Demyx sat back down, Axel smacked him round the back of the head. The mulleted boy cried out and smacked Axel's arm, or was going to until he saw the glare the redhead was giving him.

"I don't care, Demyx," Axel growled lowly, and went back to glaring at the desk.

"Well, obviously you do, otherwise you wouldn't have rung me at three in the morning to yell and stuff." Demyx really didn't know when to shut up - Axel was practically smoking. _Maybe this isn't the right time to ask him about that stuff Riku said. _

"I. Don't. Care. _Demyx_," He spat Demyx's name and got up to leave the classroom. Smashing the door open, Axel strutted out leaving a mildly confused Roxas and a very guilty looking Demyx in his wake. Demyx gave a nervous giggle and scratched the back of his head.

"Hehe, maybe I shouldn't have done that. You're coming with to help me calm him down." Roxas nodded and snuck out of the classroom. Mr Tuesti was just coming back with two un-stuck unhappy boys. Demyx dragged Roxas into an unoccupied classroom to hide as their teacher passed. After he passed, they came back out and carried on their way to find Axel.

_Does this normally happen? I mean, if Axel normally has these little temper fits, does he always run off? Oh God, this is so confusing, why did I even agree to come with Demyx in the first place? I hardly know Axel. What if he snaps or something - he might hurt Demyx or me, or something might happen. He's dangerous, like Riku said. I have to stop thinking about these things._

_I don't think Demyx knows where he is going. I don't think Axel would choose to sulk in science of all places. Is sulk even the right word? It suits the situation_. Roxas was snapped out of his thoughts just as he collided with something hard. Turns out Demyx had decided to stop.

"Ow, Demyx!"

"Oh, sorry Roxas. Come on. I think he went to the field, that's where he normally goes." Demyx waved his arm a bit over-dramatically to signal that they should keep moving. _Normally? That means that Axel does this a lot, right? Or does it just mean that's where Axel likes to go and think, or something? I think Demyx thinks this is like a ninja operation or something, the way he sneaks around. Hmm, oh well, each to their own. _

The walk to the field was long and boring. Demyx insisted they take the long way round so Axel had more time to calm down on his own and they could kill more lesson time. Once at the field, they were glad to see that no PE sessions were taking place and in the far corner there appeared to be a sulking redhead. Demyx took off at a jog across the field and Roxas followed suit. As they got closer, they saw that Axel had his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms firmly wrapped around them.

"Hey, Axe, sorry about taking it too far, didn't mean to, you know what I'm like," Demyx tried first.

Axel looked up at the two and responded: "Yes, stupid you," with a growl. Demyx leaned over to Roxas. With a quick "you try" he pushed the blond forward.

Roxas stumbled forward and looked over his shoulder to see the mulleted boy giving him an encouraging arm wave. Roxas took a deep breath and crouched down by Axel. "Err, yeah, sorry about the girl," was the best he could come up with under the pressure.

Axel snorted. "I don't care about the girl. She was a whore and always will be. I dated her for a bet."

"A bet with who?" Demyx asked disbelievingly.

Axel looked ready to pounce. "A bet with myself to prove I'm not a worthless bastard," he yelled, jumping up. Roxas fell backwards onto his butt, fear written all over his face. _Oh god, oh god, oh god. Don't hurt me, please. He looks so mad right now. _Axel must've saw Roxas' fear, though, as his face relaxed and he held out his hand for the scared blond. Roxas felt himself shake when Axel turned to him, but when he saw his relaxed features his heart calmed down a little and he took the hand that was being offered. The redhead pulled the smaller up just as Demyx started again. "Aww, you two would make such a cute couple," he cooed, making Roxas blush heavily and Axel start to get mad again.

"Leave it, Demyx, we all know what kind of trouble your gob gets you into. Now, how about we go back to class, it's freezing out here." With that, the three of them started the long walk back to product design. It was almost painfully slow to kill time, which paid off quite well because, just as they were getting back to the DT corridor, lessons were being dismissed.

Roxas spent lunch with those two, getting to know each other better. At least he found out some things. Demyx _loved _music and played the guitar very well. Axel had a thing for pyrotechnics, probably where the rumour about setting the car alight came from. Roxas didn't tell them much about himself, though, as he was quite a secretive person. Demyx and Axel had known each other since they were very young. Apparently, Axel's hair looks like strawberry jam to a four-year-old.

He also found out that Demyx is very ticklish, though the rule is to not tickle Demyx while there is food around, as while Axel was tickling the dirty blond he had kicked the table over accidently, splattering food everywhere. After cleaning up, Roxas left for English.

Sora and Riku weren't too pleased with being ditched, but at the same time were glad that Roxas was making new friends. It was difficult moving to a new area, so the more support the better. English ended with another one of Mr Luxord's quotes, this time being: "Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory," originally said by whomever. Last lesson was science, with Riku and Sora this time. That was fun, well, not really, but Sora seemed to enjoy himself poking the leaves of a plant they were meant to be experimenting on.

That night, at home, Cloud had gotten a load of catalogues out so Roxas could look for new furniture, but he had other things on his mind. After a couple of hours of pointing at wardrobes and drawers, Cloud called it a night and sent Roxas off to bed.

_Today was... interesting. At least Axel didn't snap or anything. I like Axel, he doesn't seem bad at all and he's quite attractive, but he's straight. I think. Obviously he doesn't think much of himself, but he seems to love Demyx. As a friend though, I couldn't see those two together like I could see Riku and Sora together. I think they would be good for each other._

_I wish Nam was here, she knew about these things. Kairi was a bit of a tomboy but I could still talk to her. God, even Hayner was good to talk to and he was useless. I feel so alone here. I have no one to talk to, no one to hold me, no one to do anything with. But these things take time and I have to be strong. That's what mum and dad would've wanted, right? I miss you mum, I miss you dad..._

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**Thanks to everyone who has read this or faved it or followed! My birthday is in a few days and I'm getting a new laptop so nothing will get posted while I sort things out. Sorry for a short chapter and thanks again for reading :D**_  
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	5. Chapter 5

On Friday things calmed down a little bit. A refreshing lesson of RE with only one storm out, and an exciting science lesson in which nothing happened but extremely difficult work. Sora had a lovely spaz attack at break about his mother not letting him go out last night with Riku for tacos. Third period English finished with 'Fall in love or fall in hate. Get inspired or be depressed. Ace a test or flunk a class. Make babies or make art. Speak the truth or lie and cheat. Dance on tables or sit in the corner. Life is divine chaos. Embrace it. Forgive yourself. Breathe. And enjoy the ride...' which made Roxas smile.

Lunch passed quickly, and, as product design rolled up, the twinges of nervousness started in Roxas. With any luck, Demyx wouldn't rile Axel up again, he hadn't in RE. He probably wouldn't do it twice in two days.

The class room was in anarchy as ever, only this time there were worksheets scattered across most of the workbenches. Mr Tuesti was talking to the girls about the work and three boys were throwing pieces of cardboard at each other. Very mature. Axel and Demyx were taking notes from a book. It turned out they did actually want to pass this course.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Roxas wondered why he was always late for this class. _Probably because Sora, Riku and I hangout nowhere near the DT corridor. _Shrugging at his thoughts, Roxas went over to the two.

The lesson was spent taking notes and talking about Sitars and Roxas. Roxas refused to tell them about anything too personal, despite Axel's prompting, but he did tell them that he lived with his brother, Cloud. Unsurprisingly, they reacted the same way as Sora and Riku did: Demyx with stupid questions and Axel with the rolling eyes. Last lesson was IT with Sora and then they were finally free!

Well, for two days at least.

Cloud was working late for lesson planning and detentions and what not, leaving Roxas to once again try and find his own way home. This time he was successful, though. With no help from Cloud, of course. At one point, he had tried to call his brother to ask for directions - directions he had gotten, just not very clear ones...

As soon as Cloud managed to get in, he was confronted by a very angry little blond. Apparently, Roxas wasn't too pleased with him for trailing around the neighbourhood for the best part of an hour.

Roxas went to bed happy that night, very satisfied with the outcome. Cloud cooked his favourite dinner of spaghetti bolognaise. Tomorrow, Roxas would be heading to Sora's for a movie night with Riku. If what Sora said was true and they were going to be watching horror movies, then Roxas was screwed. He had never been good with scary movies, or games, or even books. A good few months ago he had tried to play 'Amnesia: The Dark Descent' and started screaming about five minutes in.

He was really hoping that they would be watching comedies or something. Since Roxas had practically lived at his friends' houses back at the Destiny Islands, spending time with his new friends wouldn't be anything different, right? That evening at Riku's was easy enough. His new friends were very different to his old ones, but how different would it really be?

Saturday morning brought a lay in for both Roxas and Cloud. The elder Strife had made a sickening joke about waking Roxas up at 6:00am. Naturally, he had received a death glare from his little brother. Cloud didn't live up to his promises though - he woke at 10am and Roxas managed to wake at just gone 1pm.

Being Roxas, he spent the rest of the day fussing about the night. Cloud tried to reassure him that everything would be fine, but Roxas is a 15-year-old boy - what did you expect?

Roxas was sat on his bed, thinking about the past, when Sora called. He felt his mobile vibrate rather loudly in the quiet room. Roxas grabbed his phone and pressed the 'answer call' button.

'HEYA!' Roxas flinched as Sora's cheery voice flooded through the little speaker.

"Hi Sor."

'We were wondering…' – "We" probably meaning him and Riku – 'If you wanted to stay the night at mine?' He sounded hopeful, Roxas bit his lip.

"Lemme go ask Cloud." Roxas was a little more nervous now, he wasn't really expecting that. He went and found Cloud in the living room, watching some documentary about apples by the looks of things. "Err, Cloud?" Cloud turned to him, and made some sort of noise to signal him to keep going. "Can I stay the night at Sora's?"

"Really, he asked you?" The younger blond nodded slowly. _Well, that's a bit of a stupid question. _"Oh, right, yeah. I guess I can have Aerith over then."

"Oh brilliant, thanks! And you could've had Aerith round anyway I like her, she's really nice." Roxas grinned and ran back to his room. "He says it's fine. When do you want me to come, and do you want me to bring anything?" He could hear Sora talking to someone at the other end after he had finished speaking himself, and guessed that Riku was already there.

'Ooo, can you please bring food, like snacks? And is half an hour alright? That's what Riku said anyway.'

'No I didn't, doofus.'

'Yeah you did!'

'No I didn't."

That was those two gone for the moment. Roxas shook his head at the banter.

"Er, guys? Guys? GUYS!? I'm still here, y'know," Roxas giggled as the yelling ceased. "I shall see you in half an hour. Oh, and where do you live, Sora?" Roxas said sheepishly. He probably should've found that out before-hand. Addresses were exchanged and Roxas went and bugged Cloud to take him down to the store after he got his bag together. They brought microwave popcorn and Doritos at the store, then Cloud drove him to Sora's where he was greeted with a glomp.

"WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH Roxas I'm so glad you could make it, because Riku said that you wouldn't come because I was too annoying, but I don't think I'm annoying. Am I annoying, Roxas? Anyway, I'm sooooooooooooo glad you are here!" Sora gushed. Riku came up behind him to pull him away from Roxas to allow him to breathe.

"Stop it, Sora, you'll scare him. Hi, Mr. Strife," Riku smiled and pulled Sora into his own arms.

"Oh, hi sir, Roxas told us that you were his brother," Sora said, grinning and snuggling into Riku. Roxas was just stood smiling at them. _I could swear those two are together. It's adorable really, but I think they would've told me if they were actually together, right? Cloud doesn't look too impressed anyway._

"Hello Riku, Sora. Well Roxas, that'll do for me. I better be off. Bye, have fun." Cloud hopped back in his car as Roxas waved him goodbye. He turned back to the grinning brunette and the smirking silver head. Sora broke free of Riku's arms and bounded over to Roxas, grabbing his arm and dragging him inside.

"So right, Roxas, Mum is out and Dad is upstairs and shouldn't bother us. We have the living room to ourselves and we also have... scary movies!" Sora screamed and jumped around a bit. _Dammit, I was so hoping that we wouldn't be watching anything scary. I can't just cling onto Riku like Sora does. Oh God, what am I going to do? Just don't freak out Roxas, you'll be fine. _The little voice in Roxas' head was freaking out at him. "However, first, we shall set up the beds and find food."

In only two hours, everything was set up and ready. The 'beds' consisted of billions of blankets and random sleeping bags thrown in there. Basically, it was a mound of cloth on Sora's living room floor, but it was incredibly comfortable. Sora bounded about the entire time and Riku helped Roxas set the beds down. The blond couldn't seem to crush the nerves that were mounting. He would make a fool of himself completely, but he was amongst friends so it didn't really matter.

Sora had an unbelievable amount of snack food hidden away in his cupboards that he kindly brought out for the occasion. It was kind of a wonder how much the little boy could eat, as he got through over one and a half bowls of popcorn just watching Riku play video games. Just as he was munching his way through the first bag of crisps, Riku put a stop to it. "Come on, Brownie, you'll get chubby," he said as he tried to pry the bag from Sora's fingers. The brunette made a noise of protest and refused to let go. Roxas laughed quietly at the scene unfolding in front of him.

When Riku realised that Sora really wasn't going to let go, he jumped from his position on the carpet in front of the sofa and straddled Sora, making him squirm and try and escape but he was effectively trapped. "Now, Brownie, either you give me the crisps or I shall tickle you until you beg for forgiveness." It all sounded weirdly sexual to Roxas' ears, but he said nothing and just watched.

"No! They're mine, you cannot have them!" Sora yelled, gripping the bag tighter. With that, Riku went in for the kill. Long fingers finding sensitive sides, Riku didn't hold back in his torture. He grinned evilly as Sora shrieked and rolled around, desperately trying to get away from the attacking fingers.

"Help me, Roxie, please, he's gonna kill me," Sora shrieked, trying to reach out his arms in a plea for help, tears rolling down his cheeks from the laughter and crisps forgotten. Roxas decided to go for it.

"I'll save you, Sora," he said dramatically, jumping up from where he was sat and bouncing across the sofa to tackle Riku off the smaller boy. The silver head gave a very undignified squeak as he was forced off the brunette and onto the pile of blankets below them. "Hey, is Riku ticklish too?" Roxas teased as he pinned Riku down to the best of his ability.

"Hehe, yeah he is, just on his hips," Sora informed as he very ungracefully rolled off the sofa onto the floor to help with the attack. Roxas reached down for his hips while Sora helped pin him down. Riku was attempting to roll over or do something to break free, but Roxas had no mercy and in seconds Riku was a mass of giggles. It was strange to see Riku so... what was the word? Adorable, maybe.

The attack only lasted for a couple of minutes though, as Sora's father chose that minute to come downstairs. "And what is happening here then?" he asked, hands on hips. He was middle-aged with greying hair and square-framed glasses, and wearing a pair of loose fitting jeans and a blue button up shirt. Roxas quickly jumped off Riku and so did Sora. The blond looked sheepish and scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to react. Riku got up off the blankets.

"Hi Dad, this is Roxas," Sora said happily, dragging Roxas forward so his father could meet him.

"Well hello, Roxas, I'm William Wray, but you can call me Will." He held his hand out and Roxas took it, smiling outwardly but inwardly cringing at the parental tone.

"Hi."

"Dad," Sora whined. "You can go now, we have movies to watch."

William chuckled. "I can see that you boys don't want me here, so I'll be upstairs. Feel free to raid the cupboards, but don't make too much noise, will you?" All three boys nodded. William left them and went back upstairs to do whatever.

Thirty minutes later the movie had been chosen - Paranormal Activity - which Roxas had never seen but was sure it was going to scare the living daylights out of him. Sora gathered more food and settled down on the blankets with Riku next to him. Roxas sat crossed legged on the sofa and waited for the movie to begin.

"Have you guys seen this before?" Roxas asked, just as the movie was starting.

Riku shook his head. "Nah, Father got it for my brothers. I snagged it off them earlier."

"You have brothers?"

"Yeah, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo. They're triplets. Not identical, but they do look a lot alike," said Riku thoughtfully.

"Shut up you two, the movie's starting!" Sora commanded, hitting Riku lightly on the chest.

The start of the movie was a little bit boring as not much happened, but, as things progressed and more things started to happen, Roxas became more and more frightened. Sora had already taken to clinging to Riku's chest like a lifeline, even whimpering when things made him jump. Riku didn't seemed to be fazed by all this. _Probably happens a lot to him. Lucky Sora has got someone to cling to. Oh god! That isn't natural. Shit Sor, stop jumping. Bless him, he is scared though. Gah!_

Roxas let out a particularly loud scream when one of the characters got dragged down the stairs. Riku turned to him and gave him a knowing smirk. "I still have space on this side if you want?"

"No, I'm alright, I swear! Ahhh!" Roxas grabbed a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around himself tightly.

"You sure, Rox?" Roxas just nodded, eyes fixed to the screen.

The movie ended and Roxas went to change with shaky legs. Sora was shaking and clinging to Riku, near tears.

"Come on Brownie, it's just a movie," Riku comforted, wrapping his arms firmly around Sora and resting his head on that mess of brown spikes.

Sora let out a shaky sigh. "I know that, but it's still really scary Riku." Sora's muffled voice said into Riku's side. Riku felt his heart flutter at the feel of Sora's hands coming up to play with his hair.

"Yeah... it is," Riku's breath hitched as Sora turned so he was facing Riku, little fingers stroking his cheeks and jaw bone. Riku couldn't help it. He leant forward so their faces were only inches apart, nervous breaths mixing with each other.

"Riku," Sora whispered, before the silver head closed the gap between their lips. Sora tensed slightly when he felt warm gentle lips press against his own but soon relaxed and kissed back. Their lips moved in perfect sync with one another while they kissed, Sora's hands resting on his chest, Riku's around Sora's neck and in those brown locks. Riku could feel his own heart pounding in his chest as footsteps became closer and louder, pulling away just as Roxas entered the room with a confused look on his face.

"I'm gonna go get changed," Riku said suddenly. He quickly stood and grabbed his bag which was laying on the floor near the door. Without another word, he ran upstairs leaving Sora on the floor, sky blue eyes filled to the brim with salty tears.

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**Hi guys, I'm back! So I am currently writing chapter eight and it just feels so weird to be writing this again after so long... Never mind though. **

**Not to sound like a review whore but I do like them :3 Also if I get a nice review I might update tomorrow :D *Watch me get none and look like a fail***


	6. Chapter 6

Roxas shifted uncomfortably as he entered the living room clad in a lose fitting black T-shirt and baggy sweatpants. Riku jumped up and ran out of the room, leaving Sora, who didn't look very happy, alone. "What? Sora, are you okay?" Roxas asked, as Sora crawled into one of the sleeping bags laid randomly on the floor.

A choked sob echoed out from under the blanket. "Yeah, I'm fine." Sora let out another sob and buried himself as far into the sleeping bag as he could go.

"You don't sound fine, what's wrong? It can't be the movie, can it? Riku calmed you down, didn't he?" Sora let out a sob when he heard Riku's name and tried to curl up inside the bag, which didn't quite work. Roxas knelt next to the upset brunette. "Come on Sor, just tell me, please?"

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Upstairs, Riku was in much the same state, tears slowly rolling down his cheeks and the occasional sob wracking his frame._ Why did I have to do that? Now of all times? I'm so stupid! Oh god, poor Sora, what have I done? He's gonna be so upset and probably mad at me. I don't want Sora to be mad at me! Does he really have feelings for me… well 'did' he? I gotta go back down there now and apologise or something. What about Roxas? Surely he won't mind, I just have to fix this-_

Riku was drawn from his thoughts when he heard a faint knock on the bathroom door. He quickly wiped his tears and tried to make it look like he hadn't just been crying. Taking deep breaths, he called 'just a minute' as he tried to compose himself.

"Riku? It's Roxas. Err… Sora's kind of really upset for some reason and he's buried himself in the blankets and won't talk to me. I hope you don't mind me asking, but... what happened?" Roxas' soft and concerned words made Riku's heart thump loudly against his chest and the tears spring back to life. He should tell him, but having no idea how Roxas would react made Riku reluctant to say anything. However, he was awful at lying, so the truth was bound to be found out anyway. Riku opened the door slowly and immediately saw Roxas' eyes widen as he scanned his face with worried eyes. "Are you okay, Riku?" Roxas asked, worry clear on his face.

"I kissed him," Riku muttered.

"What?"

"I said I _kissed _him." Riku repeated, shifting nervously.

Roxas continued to gape until he managed to pull himself together. "Okay, err, this is... why?"

Riku felt so frustrated! He didn't know whether it was the spur of the moment or the fact that he actually _liked _Sora in that way. Was it wrong that every time the little brunette grabbed hold of him his heart fluttered, or, more often than not, he caught himself staring at him? "I don't know! We were just so close and it just felt _so _right and I couldn't do it, I just couldn't sit there and face rejection or something." Even Riku couldn't make sense of his rambling,s however Roxas managed to make some connections.

"You like him, don't you? Not as in the friend sense because I know that it's deeper than that, isn't it Riku?" A slight nod, but nothing more. "Look, Sora was crushed when I left him so he obviously feels something towards you. This is Sora we're on about. He wouldn't reject you, and even if he did he's the type of person to forget things in a flash. Go downstairs now and apologise for running off, and then tell him how you feel." Roxas was probably one of the worst people to give relationship advice as he'd never really been in a serious one, but he had watched enough TV and read enough blogs to understand how things worked... ish.

Riku nodded once more and slowly made his way downstairs, making sure to take deep breaths so as not to freak out. This was his big moment. He would say sorry to Sora for running off, then tell him what he felt and hope to God that Sora would feel the same way. When he reached the bottom step, he heard the faint footsteps of Roxas padding down after him to give him a small push out into the hall. Cautiously, the silver haired boy pushed the living room door open with a slight frown on his face as he caught sight of a bundle on the floor. Roxas seemed to be waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him to do what needed to be done.

"Sora?" The taller boy said, sitting down next to the bundle that shifted slightly when it heard Riku's voice. Sora poked his head out the mass, his eyes red and blotchy from the crying so much, his pouty lips still trembling and his hair even more of a mess than usual. Riku let his frown turn into a look of pure sympathy. "Hey, I'm sorry, Sor."

"For what?" Sora sniffed.

"For running off," his tone turned nervous. "Look, Sora, I like you, and I kissed you because of that. I shouldn't have run off, but I was afraid and I'm so, so sorry." Sora just stared at him for a long moment before he wriggled out of the mass of blankets and into Riku's arms that gladly accepted him, despite his shock.

"I can't believe you feel the same way," Sora squealed. "I was so scared about telling you and I thought that after we… y'know … I thought that you'd left me and that you were mad or something and I'm-" Sora was cut off when Riku pulled away slightly, smirking, and took his chin into his hand.

"Brownie, I get it, and I'm so glad to," Riku said softly, making Sora blush. The silver haired one brought his lips down to meet Sora's and kissed him softly, smiling inwardly when Sora responded. It was only a brief kiss but a sweet one.

"So down this mean we're like... you know." Sora blushed a bit more and bit his lip. Riku gave him a warm smile.

"If you want," he said, wrapping his arms around the brunette and laying down so that Sora could lay next to him, but not before sending Roxas a happy grin. The blond, who was standing in the door-way, sent him a warm smile back.

* * *

The beeping of what sounded like an alarm brought Roxas from his sleep, followed by a loud groan and a clatter of pottery on a hard floor. Roxas rolled over, only to find that there was nothing to roll on to. The blond let out a loud yelp as he fell off the sofa and onto the soft, blanket covered floor below. He rubbed his sleep muddled head and took a quick look around to remember where he was. He also caught sight of a large lump on the ground. He turned and smiled when he saw that it was Riku and Sora curled up with each other. By the looks of things, it was Riku he had heard the groan from as his eyes were fluttered slightly, squinting at the light of the sun.

"Morning," he grumbled.

"Hmm," Roxas replied dumbly, his eyes drifting down to the sleeping form next to Riku. Sora was still peacefully asleep, one hand rested on Riku's chest the other by his face. He was sucking his thumb just as he hand probably done for most of his life. Roxas let himself give a big goofy grin at the memory of the fluff that had happened the previous night.

Riku gave him a disapproving look just as Mr Wray appeared through the door-way. He gave the boys a cheerful smile before he noticed the position that Sora and Riku were in. He shot Riku a knowing glance before raising what appeared to be a mug of tea in his hand and turning to walk away again. Riku glanced at Roxas and then down to Sora before he let a sappy smile come on his face. He reached a hand down to slowly run his hand through brown locks emitting a small moan from Sora. Roxas politely got up and said he was going to get changed.

*Line*

Sora awoke not too long after Roxas left to get dressed. He was mildly shocked at the feeling of Riku's hand in his hair until the memories of the night before came back and he threw himself at Riku.

The rest of the day was spent messing around Sora's neighbourhood. Apparently his neighbours weren't too happy with the yelling when Sora almost fell in the lake. It wasn't Roxas though, nothing to do with Roxas...

Roxas left early so Sora and Riku could have some time alone. As cute as it was to watch them, it was almost saddening for Roxas to watch knowing that he didn't have that kind of love in his life – currently, anyway. His relationship history was pretty bleak. He had his crushes but nothing ever really happened.

The blond decided to take his chances and walk home with his messenger bag swung over his back and black converses gently padding on the pavement as he walked. It was quite a cold day, being October and all, so Roxas had his black and white chequered hoodie on in an attempt to shield his body. He had his iPod on full, blasting Trading Yesterday, blocking him from the world. He liked songs that had meaning to them and were not just about sex and drinking. That kind of music had no passion. With Roxas' attention taken away from where he was going, he didn't see the tall redhead with about the same concentration levels as him walking straight for him. As they collided, Roxas fell over onto his butt, not for the first time this week, and the redhead just looked slightly shocked but managed to remain standing from the impact. Roxas looked up when he heard a deep chuckle, noticing his head phones had fallen out in the fall.

"Looks like we're making a regular occurrence of this, Roxy," Axel said helping Roxas up in the process. Roxas just pouted and looked at the floor, not really in the mood to deal with Axel's cheeriness. "Oh come on Rox, what's wrong?" Axel took Roxas' chin between his fingers and lifted his face so their eyes met, taking Roxas' breath away.

"I- err… n-nothing. Hehe, hi, Axel," Roxas stuttered, unable to focus with Axel's intense green eyes staring into his own sky blue ones.

Axel just chuckled once more, letting go of the blond's chin. "You're cute kid, real cute. I gotta go, Demyx is expecting me. See ya." Axel left him, gormless, with a signature wink. _Okay, what just happened? Oh, right, yeah, well done Roxas, you managed to make a massive fool of yourself in front of Axel. It doesn't really matter though - he was playing with me so what was he expecting? His eyes, just his eyes! They're really something... stop It, Rox, you don't wanna get involved with Axel. Riku said he was dangerous and he pretty much confirmed that he had problem. I guess I have problems too, and I don't really know him that well. I shouldn't judge people like that._

* * *

Cloud was marking papers (which seemed like an exciting was to spend Sunday) when he got in around half-an-hour later. He also noted that Aerith was there as well, meaning she'd stayed the night doing things with Cloud... _ew, ew, ew, stop thinking about that! _"Hello, Roxas," Aerith greeted politely. Cloud just looked up, attempted a smile and looked back down.

"Hi, err… I'll be in my room." Aerith smiled warmly and Roxas left for his bedroom.

While laying on his bed twenty minutes later, Roxas felt a very strong vibration go straight through his groin making him yelp and shoot out of bed. Remembering he had left his phone in his front jean pocket, the blond haired boy flipped his mobile open to see a new text from an unknown number.

**Heya Rox, it's Axel here with my incredible number. So Roxy whatcha doing?**

**Axel, how the hell did you get my number? **Roxas asked through the text.

A few moments later the phone buzzed again. **Dem gave it to me, turns out he asked that Sora kid for it. And you didn't answer my question, I'm hurt. **Roxas smiled as he quickly added Axel's number into his phone as 'The Annoying Redhead' and text back:

**I'm not doing anything, just thinking, calm down.**

**Oh that's cute, Dem just hit himself in the face. Got to go, cha Roxy xxx **Roxas paused and reread the text a couple of times. Xxx, was that how Axel signed off or was it just for him?

**Yeah bye x. **

* * *

**I got a review :D This is the last beta'd chapter I have so you have a choice. My beta isn't back from France until next Sunday so you can either have an unbeta'd chapter that will be beta'd later on or wait for it. Your choice.**

**Beta's note: Who calls their kid Cloud, Siku or Demyx? Whatever they were smoking, I want some. Also, Georgieeee, please get me a doctor pepper as soon as you get here. Cha!**

**ME!: It's Riku Lol not Siku and well done stealing that off one of your friends ;) And hahahaha you had to get it yourself. Oh and what have I told you about talking to me in the beta notes!**


	7. Chapter 7

"Congrats on passing out, I brought coffee and pills, get up." This was a typical Saturday morning for the Sinclair brothers. Reno, the elder brother, would stay out drinking with his work friends on Friday and then drag himself home and pass out on the sofa. Axel, the younger brother, would then wake him the next morning and cook breakfast as the older could not cook to save his life. Reno groaned loudly and rolled of the sofa letting out another, louder, groan as he hit the carpeted floor. Axel just laughed from his new station in the kitchen making the delicate meal of toast.

"Ugh, what happened last night, I remember Dotman and Rude and a pink marker and summin 'bout table buddies?" Reno rubbed his hung over head and grabbed the pills, swiftly swallowing them with a large mouthful of coffee.

"How the hell am I meant to know? I don't go to your little Turk parties. Rude brought you home, anyway, 3:00am. I'm not impressed Ren, you said you would start coming home earlier and slightly more sober." The younger redhead came back from the kitchen with his toast in hand, looking very unimpressed. The argument with Reno was that he deserved to go out drinking on a Friday night because he had a tough job and that he needed a break from taking care of his little brother. However having to spend another night alone in the apartment while the drug-addicted neighbours kicked off again wasn't a brilliant prospect for Axel.

"I was slightly more sober," Reno argued although he was bound to lose.

"Then why was Rude carrying you?" Axel countered making Reno pout like a child.

"My feet hurt," the older Sinclair mumbled.

"Of course."

* * *

"What're you doing to today little bro?" Reno asked. He had his legs stretched on couch, laptop open.

"Dunno, might go see Dem or something, I don't have plans though. Why what are you doing?" Axel was sat on the comfortable armchair flicking through the hundreds of dull TV channels on offer.

Reno shrugged. "I have mission reports to write for Tseng, you know how pissy he gets." He chuckled. One time Tseng had actually come over to their apartment and demanded that Reno complete his reports otherwise he wasn't going to leave- he had ended up staying for two days.

"Yeah," Axel said in an amused tone. "That was brilliant, I love Wutai food."

"Don't we all kiddo, don't we all."

* * *

Meanwhile Axel's best friend Demyx was casually skipping along the pavement, headphones in think about things. _Axel better be in, I don't want this to end like last time; getting chased away by the neighbours. They are seriously scary people. I have to say, Ax doesn't live in a very nice area but I don't think Reno can afford I better place with the wages he's on. I always thought Turks made a lot of munny, maybe not. _

He lived in a nice area in a rather small house, but that didn't matter because it was just him and his mum. His older sister, Larxene moved out a long time ago. While she was still living with them the house was always cramped but now she's gone Demyx got a bigger room. Demyx's father moved away after he was born so the dirty blond never really knew him but that didn't matter, he had the best mum ever. He always felt sorry for Axel because he didn't have the same.

So many people asked him about why he still hung around with Axel after all that happened because they think that Axel will get him into trouble. But Demyx knew that Axel would never do that. Axel had a lot of problems but Demyx wouldn't be a very good friend is he left him. All he really had left was his brother so he couldn't leave him. In fact, it was barely worth thinking about it.

While he was engrossed in his thoughts he had reached the apartment block. He found Axel and Reno's apartment with practised ease and knocked on the door. Of course he didn't expect an answer because this is Reno and Axel we're talking about, they don't open doors like normal folk. Someone called 'go away' from inside but Demyx couldn't figure out which one of them it was.

Sighing Demyx called back: "Axel open up!" The teen heard someone getting up and a crash followed by a few muffled curses. The door swung open to show a very pretty redhead glaring at him. "Heya!"

"Hi Dem, what do you want?" Axel said in a bored voice.

"I was wondering if you were free so we could go into town or something. I dunno you look really bored!" Demyx grinned and hoped that Axel wouldn't be a meanie and slam the door in his face. Axel sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"I can't," he said simply.

Reno wasn't having any of it and yelled at the two, "Yes you can, get off your lazy ass for once and hang out with Dem." Demyx snickered at Axel's brother but stopped once he saw the rage on Axel's brow.

"I have stuff to do Reno, I want to go out with Dem but sadly I have things to think about," Axel explained, clearing irritated by the older redhead.

"Don't hurt yourself."

Demyx couldn't help but laugh out loud at the bickering brothers, they had always been like this, as far as he could remember anyway. "Aww okay, feel free to text me if you get lonely." He flashed the other teen quick wink before skipping off.

Axel shut the door and began to head to his room but Reno stepped in his way before he had the chance. "What the hell was that about?" he demanded.

"What?" Axel snapped, not at all in the mood to deal with his brother trying to be the father figure.

"Declining Dem. You never do that, you love that kid. So what's up Ax?" Reno calmed and clicked his tongue while bouncing on his heels.

"Nothing, now get out of my way." Axel tried to get past Reno once again and this time he let him past. Reno knew better then to believe what Axel had told him, something was so wrong...

Later that day Axel managed to drag himself out his room to watch crappy Saturday night television with his brother. The older learnt from experience that Axel wouldn't cave easily and certainly wouldn't if he just spent the rest of the night annoying him. In his mind Reno picked through all the possible troubles that Axel could be facing. It couldn't be bullies or anything of the sort as his baby brother knew very well how to deal with people like that, relationship issues was a maybe but Axel never really involved himself with many girls, or boys for that matter. The stress of high school could be getting to him but the grades weren't showing it. Ultimately, Reno was stumped.

"Reno," Axel said, his voice barely above a wisper. Reno hadn't heard him sound so vulnerable since he was a tiny child.

"Hmm," Reno hummed, not even casting a glance at Axel, not wanting to distract him from his thoughts.

"Have you ever wanted someone, like really badly, but known that they were so out of your league they're literally untouchable." Axel nervously fiddled with a loose thread on a pillow.

Reno sighed and thought for a moment before answering. "Couple of times but it passes whatever you're feeling. I'll tell you a secret, when I first joined up with ShinRa I had the biggest crush on my boss, he was hot. But I knew that there was no chance with him, within a few weeks I forgot it."

"It's not like that, I mean thanks for sharing the Boss story again but I think I kinda, maybe could have a chance with him but I don't even know which way he swings," Axel replied glumly.

"In that case ask him, get to know him, whatever. I'm gonna go to bed." Reno got off and walked off to his room, leaving Axel to ponder on his thoughts.

_Ha, maybe he isn't out of my reach... but I barely know him. He seems like a good kid at least. I can talk to him on Monday I guess, and like Reno said, get to know him better._

* * *

Sunday came around far too quickly for Axel. Just the plain thought of having to go to school the next day was depressing. Reno slept well into the afternoon but Axel was up before 8am. His dreams were full of _him _and for some reason he couldn't shake off the feeling of wanting to see him.

The phone rang loudly just before 10, making Axel smirk when he heard Reno's loud, irritated groan coming from the bedroom. It was Demyx.

'Heya Ax!' Demyx's voice was way too loud.

"Hey Dem." Axel sighed.

'Watcha doing today then?'

"Nothing, why do you have something planned?"

'Me and Zexy were going to go down to King Mickey's for dinner if you wanted to join us.' Zexion was one of Demyx's only other friends. He went to primary school with the two but ended up going to a private school afterwards. Axel didn't mind Zexion but wasn't too interested in him either, the feeling was mutual.

"Yeah sure. Time and place?" Axel quickly searched through the drawers in his living room for a scrap of paper and, with any luck, a pen. He found an old bill envelope and decided that would do with a shrug.

'Err, 4pm outside Mickey's if you would. Zexion and me are going to be hanging around town all day if you feel the need to join us.' Demyx tried not to sound too hopeful because he knew that Axel wasn't overly keen on Zexion and was unlikely to join them... unless free food was involved... but Demyx was on a very strict budget.

"Nahh, I'll let you have some quality time with him. See you later Dem."

'Bye Axel!' Axel sighed and prepared to hang up when a yelp came through. 'No wait don't hang up! Just to let you know I have something for you. Bye!' And with that the blond hung up leaving the redhead to carry on with his sighing and go find food.

At 3:30 Axel got bored with hanging around the apartment so thought it best to head out and go meet Zexion and Demyx, more Demyx than Zexion. He left a note for Reno, which he doubted he would even read, and grabbed his head-phones along with his iPod and left the apartment to go find he goofy friend. On the way there he bumped into someone he wasn't quite expecting to see...

Once he regained his senses he looked down to find a dazed little blond on the floor. He chuckles and held out his hand. "Looks like we're making a regular occurrence of this Roxy," Axel said, helping Roxas up. He noticed that Roxas didn't look too chipper and held his grin back and immediately a concerned look crossed his features. "Oh come on Rox, what's wrong?" He lifted Roxas' chin between his long fingers and stared into his eyes trying not to gasp at the deepness in the blue orbs.

"I- err n-nothing. Hehe hi Axel," Roxas stuttered, looking away the best he could. This made Axel smile.

He chuckled again. "You're cute kid, real cute. I gotta go, Demyx is expecting me, see ya." The redhead walked off, grinning.

* * *

Finding Demyx wasn't difficult. As he turned the corner to King Mickey's he saw the dirty blond freaking out in the front of the restaurant, probably about where Axel was. "Hey Dem!" He called. Demyx spun around a few times until he noticed Axel and grinned widely, waving him over. The redhead shook his head and jogged over to the giddy teen.

"Axel!" Demyx said cheerfully, grinning. Zexion came up behind him and smiled slightly at Axel. Axel gave a half-hearted wave at the small teen and turned to Demyx.

"We gonna eat or not?"

Hanging out with Demyx was a fun affair. He was always so happy! That meant he was forever yapping about this and that and leaving you to do nothing but listen but Axel didn't mind, he was more of listener anyway. Zexion kept to the background and didn't speak the entire time Axel was there. After the trio left King Mickey's Zexion departed. Demyx had flamboyantly waved him off before going back to Axel with a blush on his cheeks.

"I think I'm in love," Demyx cooed dramatically, hand over heart.

"Seriously?" Axel said incredulously.

"Yeah…" The blond said dreamily. Thoughts of Zexion flooded his mind. "I get this feeling every time he's around me and when I hugged him this morning I thought I was happy to die in his arms." He sighed and spun in a little circle. Axel stared at him like he had grown another head.

"Dem. You've lost your mind, dude." He shook his head.

"It's not that crazy you know. He is gay and I'm cute, right?" Dem pouted at Axel which caused him to laugh and shake his head some more.

"Sure, you two have fun. We should get some ice-cream."

"Oh my god! Yay! Let's go!" Demyx was a sweet kid, he just needed a bit of good luck to get him through.

* * *

**I'm so sorry.**

**I mean really.**

**I'm so lazy. This isn't even beta'd. She's ill and it's her birthday so she can't do betaing D:**

**But yeah! Chapter 7! I was feeling nice so I uploaded.**

**Review?**

**(Sorry)**


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